2 ❦ Chapter One: Triad Kings College

❦ Kaiana Hamilton ❦

The three of us stared up at the tall college building, mouths dropped open.

"It more beautiful than anything back in the city," Axel said finally.

"You ruined the moment, Ax," Brookelynn sighed.

"Oh, shut up, Brooke."

"What do you think, Kai?" Brookelynn asked, glancing at me.

"I think it's a miracle we got accepted into this place," I muttered.

Axel grinned at me. "It's cuz we're the Hamilton triplets we got accepted, you know. Any college would be crazy not to take us. I mean, we've got the highest IQ in the state."

I furrowed my brow. "Ax, Brooke's right. You ruined it."

"How did I ruin it?" the youngest of the three of us demanded.

"You had to drag our reputation and our bloodline into this," I said. "And I would prefer if you didn't throw our name around at the other students. I'd like to be anonymous for the first time in my life."

"Oh, come on, Kai," Axel said. "You know that's never gonna work. Our signature red-hair doesn't exactly allow for that, you know."

"There are plenty of redheads in New York—" I started.

"Yes, and just how many of those redheads with our IQ and are triplets are out there?" Axel asked sarcastically.

"I'm sure we aren't alone—" I started, but Axel cut me off again.

"Kai, I know you don't want to be recognized after what happened in the square. But I don't think we've got much of an option. We're going to be found. And people are gonna know who we are."

"Axel's right, Kai," Brookelynn said. She shrugged. "We're just too well-known."

I sighed. "Oh, fine."

The three of us stared at the building a moment longer.

"Well. Shall we go in?"

I sighed. "I suppose delaying it any longer won't be any help to us."

So together, the three of us walked into Triad Kings College.

➴

Maybe I should introduce myself.

My name is Kaiana Naomi Hamilton. I am the oldest of the three of us, though only by a few seconds. I go by Kai, mostly. My sister is Brookelynn Genevieve Hamilton. She likes the nickname Brooke. My brother is Axel Colton Hamilton, who we just call Ax more often than not. They mean the world to me.

The three of us have the highest IQ levels in the state of New York. We grew up in New York City, living under the shadow of our ancestor's achievements.

It's not easy being the descendant of Alexander Hamilton. His legacy presses heavily on my shoulders. Most everything I did was criticized by the press and the public.

But it's not that bad compared to our biggest secret.

We're half-bloods, children of Poseidon.

But we were told at Triad, we won't have to keep that a secret by our camp director, Chiron. See, we go to Camp Half-Blood in Manhattan in the summer to keep us safe. Chiron is one of the directors, Mr. D is the other. Chiron is coming here to be our professor, we know. He says he wants to see how the school can work, and if it's worth making elementary, middle, and high schools like this college.

I'm both excited and nervous to be the guinea pigs of testing.

Guess we'll see how that goes.

➴

"Ah! Hamiltons!" Chiron says, wheeling over to us.

"Hello, Chi— er, Mr. Bruner," Axel says.

He smiles at us. "Hello, Axel. Hello, Brookelynn, Kaiana."

We grin at him.

"Welcome to Triad Kings College."

And for the first time since we received our acceptance letters, this feels real.